Peacock, Galindo Lindogal (2022). After Miguel Benlloch, Galindo Lindogal (1996), diapositive slideshow. Graphic by Julián Ruesga.
This is the first in a series of prints by Peacock printmakers, Struan Hamilton and James Vass, in collaboration with the Miguel Benlloch Archive, that re-elaborate and envision selected works by Miguel Benlloch. The woodblock print Galindo Lindogal is realised after a diapositive slideshow of the same name by Miguel Benlloch, designed with Julián Ruesga in 1996. The slideshow, composed of six images, was first projected as part of the performance ReversiblelbisreveR during Benlloch’s first show at Galería Cave Canem, in Seville.
The title of the work refers to former general of the Spanish Civil Guard, Enrique Rodríguez Galindo who, together with a group of other government and army officials, lead the secret death squad GAL (Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberación, ‘anti-terrorist liberation groups’). Between 1983 and 1987, GAL killed 28 alleged members of ETA, the main Basque separatist paramilitary group, in what was known as the ‘Dirty War.’ A long investigation, which culminated in a Supreme Court case in the 1990s, revealed the active involvement of high government and army officials, including Galindo, in the GAL.
This performance and Galindo Lindogal foreground not only Benlloch’s interest in wordplay and semantics, but also introduce a zeal for visual manipulation and subversive mirroring to bring across a poignant political and historical condemnation.
Paper Size: 54 x 54 cm
Medium: Laser cut woodblock print
Edition Size: 20
Year: 2022